Race

Race recap from Saturday:
I arrived about 30 minutes before the start – quite a long time to stand around when its 40 degrees and you’re not wearing a jacket or sweats! Brrr. I jogged around a bit and tried to keep limber. The gun went off at 7:30 – I felt great and ran my first mile in 8:25. At that point I thought about speeding up, since I was feeling good and not huffing and puffing as much as those around me, but I kept it reeled in since I thought the course got hillier as we went. I was wrong – it was nice and flat pretty much the whole route. I missed my second mile marker and looked down at my watch around 20 minutes in – hm. How far in am I? I thought I had kept pretty good pace. What to do? Do I speed up since I’m still feeling pretty fresh? I decided to keep my pace and kick it in when I saw we were getting close. Unfortunately, I waited too long. We came around a corner, and bang, there’s the finish line 100 yards down. I sprinted it, and made it across in 26:58. I have mixed emotions about this. One, it is my PR for a 5K and I came in 7th of 82 in my age group. Not bad! However, I KNOW I could’ve shaved off a lot of that time. Dang! I guess that is what will keep me coming back for races. As they say, running doesn’t get easier, you just go faster. I suppose I learned some lessons during this race. First, warm up! – I tried as much as I could, but my knee was cashed due to the cold for the rest of the day. Second, know your course. I should’ve driven it so I knew it was that flat. Lastly, keep an eye on your mile markers and wristwatch. When I got to 20 minutes, I should’ve turned my jets on. I don’t think sprinting the last 100 yards upped my time much. Live and learn, right? Anyway, I am very happy I got to race and will start looking forward to my next! For now, I am going to snuggle up with my book and enjoy this cold and rainy vacation day!